John Player Badass

Wish we could provide this one larger— so much extraordinary detail! If anyone can come through, let us know.

John Player’s brands (a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer, based in Nottingham, England… [and] today a part of the Imperial Tobacco Group) are also well known among motor racing fans following their long association with the Lotus Formula One team, and Norton motorcycle racing team. John Player’s sponsorship of Team Lotus began with the Lotus 49 in Gold Leaf colours at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, continued with the Lotus 72, which changed to the black and gold John Player Special colours in 1972 and ended in 1986 with the Lotus 98T. The JPS livery was also used by BMW in touring car racing in Australia during the 1980s. In 1984, BMW released a limited-edition road version of its 323i touring car in JPS colours to the Australian market.

Player’s brands also sponsored the Forsythe Championship Racing team in Champ Car racing until tobacco advertising in automotive series was banned midway through 2003 (source).

~ by velofinds on August 2, 2011.

Posted in Still images
Tags: 3er, 6er, bmw, e24, e30, john player special, jps, livery, player's

7 Responses to “John Player Badass”

I was 12 when Mario Andretti won the world championship with the Lotus 79 and I’ve always loved the livery, second only to Alitalia. I wasn’t aware of the BMWs; that 6 series is the bee’s knees.

OlyOop said this on August 2, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Wow. The JPS livery is a favorite of mine as well. I had no idea about these Australian editions. Killer! Thanks for posting this.

RadAlex said this on August 3, 2011 at 12:10 pm
I remember these 3 series BMW’s very well. They could not be beaten. And in Australia at least created the racing legacy and the foundation for disproportionately large M3 sales.
I was pretty young, but I knew these were damn cool.
I believe Tony Longhurst was a team driver.

le choo said this on August 3, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Plenty of videos of the 635’s at Bathurst…

Mario said this on August 3, 2011 at 8:45 pm
- mmm, thank you for that— looks brilliant. love mount panorama circuit also.
  
  motoringconbrio said this on August 3, 2011 at 9:41 pm
There’s a genuine JPS 325i for sale here in New Zealand.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/specialist-cars/competition-cars/auction-359615949.htm

Matt said this on August 4, 2011 at 8:20 pm
motoringconbrio said this on October 3, 2011 at 7:59 am